


The Other Half

by idrilsdarkwritings (idrilhadhafang)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Dark Poe Dameron, First Order Poe Dameron, Love Confessions, Luke Skywalker Is An Asshole, M/M, Protective Poe Dameron, Rating May Change, brief buried alive mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-02-04 08:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18601111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilsdarkwritings
Summary: What if Poe had joined Ben Solo in the First Order?





	The Other Half

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MidgardianNerd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidgardianNerd/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Based on this beautiful piece of art: https://twitter.com/ashleevcasey/status/1121164396187848705?s=19
> 
> There might be other fics based on this art, there might not. Dedicated to MidgardianNerd, who loves Dark Poe as much as I do.

He had to get away. Quickly. Even as he stumbled to the door of Poe’s house, still dizzied from the knowledge he had air after being trapped with his uncle under the hut’s ruins, he knew he wasn’t safe. He had to get away. Had to get help. 

He knocked on the door, and Poe answered it. His face filled with alarm. “Ben? You look like hell; what happened?”

Probably figured, Ben thought, when you were trapped under a hut for a while. “It’s my uncle,” he said. “He tried to kill me. I barely escaped — ”

Ben could only watch even as Poe’s face changed — as it went through shock, then anger. Ben could feel it; even in the confused rush of Poe’s thoughts, what stood out the most was the impression that Poe’s mind had all but become a mushroom cloud of fury. The aftermath of an explosion. 

“How could he?” Poe said. 

“There was something wrong with me.”

”There’s nothing wrong with you. And even if there was, he should have helped you. Just...stars, Ben. I’m so sorry.”

Poe hugged him, and Ben couldn’t help even in the midst of shock, feeling safe. Like he could lay his head down and catch his breath, just for a while. Like Poe’s jacket was a hiding place. 

Poe eventually drew away. “Come with me. I’ll protect you.”

Ben nodded. BB-8, next to Poe, started beeping in agreement, frantically. He doubted he knew what he had done to deserve Poe Dameron, but...maybe he had done at least one thing right. 

***

They ran to the shuttle, boarded it, and set the coordinates to the Unknown Regions. The blue vortex of hyperspace seemed to swirl around them even as they took a while to catch their breaths. Now...now Ben could at least come to terms — or try to come to terms, really — with one undeniable fact: Luke Skywalker tried to kill him. 

It was one of these things that still left him shaking just thinking about it. Struggling with the voice in his mind, just another night...only for Luke Skywalker to be standing over him with his lightsaber ignited. 

His breathing came in shallow, and he shook. Poe stood next to him, and it was there that the shorter man took Ben’s hand. 

A simple gesture that stilled Ben’s shaking. Replaced with something else, he had to admit, that was new — new and yet not unfamiliar. Fluttery feelings. It seemed that even though he was nearly twenty years old, no longer a boy but not yet a man, he still felt younger. 

It was at least better than shaking. 

“You okay?” Poe said. 

Ben nodded. “I can’t believe he tried to kill me.”

Poe squeezed his hand harder. “He’s a monster,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Ben."

”Yeah." A beat. “Kriff, Poe...I knew that he hated me. I never thought that he’d try to kill me. What...” His voice cracked. “What was so wrong with me, Poe?”

”Nothing.” Poe’s voice was firm. “You’re worth a million of him. I didn’t realize he was awful then...but I knew even then that you were a wonderful being that deserved so much better than this.”

”But...”

Poe looked at him. Somehow, Ben could swear that he was really looking at him. Like his eyes were the sole steadying point in this shuttle. “Ben Solo,” he said. “I made my choice and I’m not going to leave you.”

”You won’t be the same,” Ben said. 

“I think I wasn’t the same the moment he tried to kill you.” 

Ben swallowed. “I’m sorry.”

”It’s his fault. Not yours. And I told you...I won’t leave you. It may be just us. But Ben...” Poe sighed. “If we transform, if we become unrecognizable...we have each other.” A beat. “I love you, Ben. I love you more than you could ever understand.”

Ben stared at him. “Why me?”

”Why not you? You don’t choose who you fall in love with. It’s why I’m here.” A beat. “I made my choice and I’m not going to leave you.”

Once the shock abated, it was like a burst of beauty had entered the shuttle. An explosion of it had entered Ben’s world — his landscape. All in what Poe said, the way he looked at Ben like Ben was somehow that explosion of beauty. 

“I won’t either. I love you, Poe.” Even before he had known what that feeling was, really. Even before he could give it words, a voice. 

They were close. Ben could practically count his eyelashes. It was possible it was the shock of nearly being murdered, feeling his uncle’s thoughts that seemed to refer to him as a filthy vile thing that needed to be euthanized, but he also knew that he had always loved this man, and now...now this beautiful, loving, caring man felt the same. 

Poe kissed him. It was all but a collision — soft lips against Ben’s, and Ben kissed him back with equal ferocity. He felt like he was thrumming, alive, sentient, and that led him to running hands through curly black hair (majestic, one of his peers at the Academy had called it, before things had gone to hell), and kriff, he was getting more than he deserved —

Eventually they broke away. Gasping. Poe looked down at him, affectionately. “If we run, we run together,” he said. “Anywhere.”

”Yes.” Ben said. “Anywhere.”


End file.
